The tech sector is beginning to feel some of the negative hiring impact of the prolonged COVID-19 shutdown, but the overall job field remains a lot healthier than other sectors. That's according to CompTIA's review of the newest Employment Situation Summary from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.The BLS report covers all sectors, but CompTIA focused on two areas: technology sector employment, which relates to jobs in the tech industry as a whole (people employed by Google, Microsoft, Dell, etc.) and includes both technical and non-technical roles; and IT employment, which covers IT jobs across all sectors of the economy (travel, retail, health care, etc.).To read this article in full, please click here
When you think of Cisco, the first thing that comes to mind is switches the size of a refrigerator, but on the company’s Q4 and year-end 2020 earnings call with financial analysts, CEO Chuck Robbins laid out a surprising transformation.For the full fiscal year, the company saw 51% of revenues come from software and services. It had also set out the goal for two-thirds of software sales to be sold as subscription. That rate has now reached 78%.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
And Robbins said Cisco isn’t done there. He says the company is reexamining its entire business model in the wake of changes to the work environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We're even looking at how we deliver our traditional networking hardware as a service over time,” he told analysts. And he said much of it will be available by the end of the calendar year.To read this article in full, please click here
In these stressful times, one way to distract ourselves from the gloom is by playing word games. With this thought in mind, I challenged myself to identify words that, spelled backwards, would still be words.Instead of cheating by doing a simple Google search, I cheated by using my Linux commands skills. So, in this post, we’ll look at how Linux commands and resources can be used to identify such words.Defining the search
Before we get started on the Linux search technique, I should point out that what I was looking for were not just palindromes – words like “civic” and “deified” that read the same from left to right as they do right to left. Instead, I was also looking for words like “reward” and “decaf” that turn into different words – in this case, “drawer” and “faced” -- when one reads them backwards.To read this article in full, please click here
As Ethernet-based networks continue to evolve, two industry groups recently announced plans to take it to yet another level – this time extending the technology to operational and wireless time-sensitive communication applications.This week the Ethernet Alliance said it was pushing an effort to bring faster, simpler communications to the operational technology (OT) networks typically found in building and industrial automation environments. The Ethernet Alliance includes a variety of communications players including Broadcom, Cisco, Dell, Juniper, Intel as well as university and industry members.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
A recently standardized IEEE specification, 802.3cg, which defines the use of Single-Pair Ethernet (SPE) in many circumstances rather than a wide range of fieldbus cables, including RS‑485 twisted-pair, RG‑6 coaxial, and instrumentation cables is behind the group’s strategy. To read this article in full, please click here
There is enterprise-level software for surveying Wi-Fi networks, but even in large wireless networks, simple freeware tools are handy for a quick peek at the airwaves during design, deployment or troubleshooting.Here is a look at eight free tools – some for Windows and some for Mac OS X – that provide basic details about nearby Wi-Fi signals: SSIDs, signal strength, channels, MAC addresses and security status.
Learn about 5G and Wi-Fi 6
What is 5G? How is it better than 4G?
How to determine if WiFi 6 is right for you
What is MU-MIMO? Why do you need it in your wireless routers?
When to use 5G, when to use WiFi 6
How enterprises can prep for 5G networks
Some can even reveal “hidden” or non-broadcasted SSIDs, display the noise levels, or display statistics on successful and failed packets of your wireless connection. One of them includes Wi-Fi password-cracking tools that are useful for educational or penetration testing purposes.To read this article in full, please click here
The FCC's Auction 105 continues into its third week Monday, having sold off more than $2.4 billion worth of priority access to the Citizen's Broadband Radio Service since kicking off on July 23.
5G resources
What is 5G? Fast wireless technology for enterprises and phones
How 5G frequency affects range and speed
Private 5G can solve some problems that Wi-Fi can’t
Private 5G keeps Whirlpool driverless vehicles rolling
5G can make for cost-effective private backhaul
CBRS can bring private 5G to enterprises
CBRS is a hot topic in the wireless world for several reasons, not least of which is its unique three-tiered access system that carries with it the potential for an almost endless array of new services. Enterprises can use the spectrum – which sits between 3550MHz and 3700MHz – to roll their own IoT networks, MSPs can offer various services like smart buildings, and the carriers can fold it into their networks.To read this article in full, please click here
There are a number of ways to merge and sort text files on Linux, but how to go about it depends on what you're trying to accomplish – whether you simply want to put the content of multiple files into one big file, or organize it in some way that makes it easier to use. In this post, we'll look at some commands for sorting and merging file contents and focus on how the results differ.Using cat
If all you want to do is pull a group of files together into a single file, the cat command is an easy choice. All you have to do is type "cat" and then list the files on the command line in the order in which you want them included in the merged file. Redirect the output of the command to the file you want to create. If a file with the specified name already exists, it will be overwritten by the one you are creating. For example:To read this article in full, please click here
IT leaders are already starting to reap the rewards promised by AI and machine learning -- and a recent survey reveals half are considering greater investment as we hit economic headwinds.
Most of the buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) centers on autonomous vehicles, chatbots, digital-twin technology, robotics, and the use of AI-based 'smart' systems to extract business insight out of large data sets. But AI and machine learning (ML) will one day play an important role down among the server racks in the guts of the enterprise data center. AI's potential to boost data-center efficiency – and by extension improve the business – falls into four main categories:To read this article in full, please click here
Microsoft is bringing artificial intelligence to the task of sorting through millions of servers to determine what can be recycled and where.The new initiative calls for the building of so-called Circular Centers at Microsoft data centers around the world, where AI algorithms will be used to sort through parts from decommissioned servers or other hardware and figure out which parts can be reused on the campus.
READ MORE: How to decommission a data center
Microsoft says it has more than three million servers and related hardware in its data centers, and that a server's average lifespan is about five years. Plus, Microsoft is expanding globally, so its server numbers should increase.To read this article in full, please click here
Privacy is one of the big holdups to a world of ubiquitous, seamless data-sharing for artificial intelligence-driven learning. In an ideal world, massive quantities of data, such as medical imaging scans, could be shared openly across the globe so that machine learning algorithms can gain experience from a broad range of data sets. The more data shared, the better the outcomes.That generally doesn't happen now, including in the medical world, where privacy is paramount. For the most part, medical image scans, such as brain MRIs, stay at the institution level for analysis. The result is then shared, but not the original patient scan data.
READ MORE: Cisco challenge winners use AI, IoT to tackle global problemsTo read this article in full, please click here
Another study finds that the data center is far from dying. That's not surprising to learn from the Uptime Institute's annual data center survey. However one trend that did stand out in the research is that power efficiency has "flatlined" in recent years.Uptime says big improvements in energy efficiency were achieved between 2007 and 2013 using mostly inexpensive or easy methods, such as simple air containment. But moving beyond those gains involves more difficult or expensive changes. Since 2013, improvements in power usage effectiveness (PUE) have been marginal, according to the group.To read this article in full, please click here
An IoT-enabled system for transporting dairy products earned its designers the top prize in a competition run by Cisco. The Global Problem Solver Challenge, which is one of Cisco's corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, pays cash awards to entrepreneurial companies using technology to solve the world's biggest challenges.Now in its fourth year, Cisco's Global Problem Solver Challenge awards $100,000 to the first-place winner and $75,000 to the first runner-up. The program also gives out four $25,000 awards and seven $10,000 prizes.This year, I was honored to be invited to help judge the 2020 winners. In full disclosure, I agreed to be a judge but I received no compensation, as I believe we all have to work together to make the world a better place. One important consideration for me, as I thought about whether to volunteer my time as a judge, was that this is not a marketing ploy by Cisco to sell more technology. There is no requirement for any of the entries to use Cisco products.To read this article in full, please click here
How can enterprises handle the complexity of multiple clouds — and reap unprecedented benefits? In a series of virtual roundtables, 30 IT leaders articulated the challenges and delivered insightful recommendations.
Visible light communications (VLC) systems are an alternative to radio-based wireless networks and serve a dual purpose: They provide in-building lighting, and they use light waves for data transmission. VLC uses modulated light as a data carrier, while the visible spectrum provides light.Using VLC for data transmission has some advantages. It offers decent bandwidth; it offers security because walls, floors and roofs obstruct the data-carrying wavelengths, which reduces the risk of eavesdropping; and it's inexpensive since it's simply incorporated into light fixtures or, in emerging developments, worked into displays and other surfaces.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco has unveiled a cloud-based security platform it says will go a long way in helping customers protect their far-flung networked resources.Cisco describes the new SecureX service as offering an open, cloud-native system that will let customers detect and remediate threats across Cisco and third-party products from a single interface. IT security teams can then automate and orchestrate security management across enterprise cloud, network and applications and end points.Network pros react to new Cisco certification curriculum
“Until now, security has largely been piecemeal with companies introducing new point products into their environments to address every new threat category that arises,” wrote Gee Rittenhouse senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s Security Business Group in a blog about SecureX.To read this article in full, please click here
Juniper is filling out its enterprise security portfolio this week by integrating support for its Mist wireless customers and adding the capability for customers to gain better visibility and control over encrypted traffic threats.With the new additions, Juniper is looking to buttress its ability to let users secure all traffic traversing the enterprise network via campus, WAN or data center. The moves are part of Juniper's grand Connected Security platform that includes a variety of security products including its next-generation firewalls that promise to protect networked resources across infrastructure and endpoints.To read this article in full, please click here
Python is one of the most widely used coding languages in the world. And, good news, it isn’t very difficult to learn — especially for those experienced using other platforms. If you want an introduction to the language, but would rather avoid a traditional college education, then give The Complete 2020 Python Programming Certification Bundle a try.To read this article in full, please click here
When IT leaders hear about segmentation, their first thought is usually about dividing a network up using VLANs or VXLANs. But segmentation also plays a critical security role in securing dynamic multi-cloud environments, IoT and BYOD strategies, and automated workflows in today’s highly distributed environments.Digital Innovation is disrupting enterprise organizations, adding new networks such as dynamic multi-cloud to enable new services and business opportunities. However, these new environments also create increased risk. The explosive adoption of IoT and mobile devices, as well as applications and services from multiple clouds, are pushing the attack surface beyond the traditional network boundaries. And because workflows, applications, and transactions have to span all of these new environments, traditional network-based segmentation strategies stop at the edge of each network environment without putting cumbersome and complex solutions in place.To read this article in full, please click here